on a good songs about testimony today. Recognize what Jesus has done in our lives and then proclaiming that to others, taking that with us and being grateful. A lot of wonderful today that should be a part of our daily lives. And so glad for these things. It's a great spirit to be able to come and the Lord together in the parts of gratitude and thankfulness and the joy even as Rick was reading that passage from Isaiah this morning, Isaiah 35, and he brought up a couple of things I'll just mention, is you can turn to Acts chapter 2, because we're not going to be in Isaiah this morning, but Isaiah, that passage that Rick read, is ultimately referring to the millennial kingdom and to what will take place when Jesus returns to establish that kingdom and the joy that will take place as we experience that together. But remember, even from Peter's message that he is referring and he is making clear that the coming of the spirit and the beginning of the church is the beginning of that last day's age. that will end in the Millennial Kingdom. And so there are just a little tastes and little samplings of what will happen in that Millennial Kingdom as the church begins ministry. One of those things we're gonna see today is a miraculous thing that God works through Peter and John, Peter particularly, the power of Jesus Christ that directly fulfills one verse in Isaiah 35, then shall the lame man leap like a deer. We will see this man this morning doing this as the effects of God's power continue or begin to show themselves in this group of believers, this early church, the program of God's church begins. And some wonderful things going on here as the Holy Spirit works in hearts and God is working, providing joy and care and love for this group of people and showing God's love, proclaiming his love to the world. And we're gonna see that now as we go into Acts chapter two, starting at verse 42. What happened, actually the effect of Peter's first sermon, as the tongues of fire came upon them and the spirit was working and they were able to preach the gospel, preach the truth, or proclaim the truth of God's word to many in different languages, the Jews that were literally from all over the world here in Jerusalem together and wondering. And so it really got their attention very quickly. And Peter capitalized on that. And the effect of his first sermon was astounding. The power of the Holy Spirit working in hearts to the teaching of God's truth people drawn in repentance and faith to trust in him. And now, remember we finished the passage last week, the newly formed entity of the church now numbers over 3,000 souls. Now folks, that's gonna have an impact on your community. And it does, as they worship and serve together, it has an impact on the whole region. And this initial impact is very positive, one of wonder and amazement. and appropriate fear, reverent fear, as they realize that God is doing something special. It's very apparent the power of God is working among them. We're gonna see human reactions many times in this passage, as we look also in the first part of chapter three. Wonder, amazement, and it says awe, that has the idea of reverent fear, that as people realize the awesome power of God working among them, It gives them a sense of reverence and soberness and fear in the right sense, not in a terror, so to speak, of the power of Christ working through his people. And really, although again, in some of these early events in the book of Acts, we can't expect the exact correlation to what we experience today as the church, but folks, there's a lot of things going on here that really ought to be going on in the church today as well. and this spirit of love and care for each other and concern for each other is wonderful. And it convicts us, I think, to the effects of God's power in the early church. And the first one we're going to look at is the church. The church body expands in maturity and numbers. And the early church lived together in community together. And that is sharing things and meeting needs and helping each other and worshiping together. And this is the results of what the spirit is doing. Look at verse 42 of chapter two. And they devoted themselves to, there's a list, the apostles teaching is number one priority, the teaching of God's word and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved. Father, thank you for this beautiful picture of the first believers and their response to the powerful working of the Spirit in their lives and what it is drawing them together as a spiritual family and desiring to help each other and show care and concern for each other. and to worship together and honor the Lord and seeing God's sovereign work, your work, in their lives and adding and expanding. Lord, it is an encouragement to think that ultimately this is your work and you will bring souls to salvation in your time. It's in your control. Even as we see in this passage, you added. And yet the responsibility was theirs to choose to have faith. And so, Lord, we pray that even again, as we don't expect every aspect of what happened in early church to happen today, that we would still have a spirit of love and care and concern for each other that the world takes notice of. Help us to do that well. We need your help. And so we ask for it. In Jesus' name that we pray, amen. The church here expanding in maturity and numbers and living in community together, back to verse 42. This new group, this church of New Testament believers immediately formed spiritual patterns and healthy habits. And we have a list here that is given for us. And very top of this, important, the primary commitment was to the teaching of God's word. And they devoted themselves, that word devote, refers to persistence and perseverance. It wasn't just a once in a while thing. Well, you know, we better go hear the apostles preach today and have the teachings of Jesus, and that would be good for us to listen to. But, you know, we'll just see if we're able to fit it into our schedule after that. These believers are, this is primary. We want to learn more about Jesus. We are committed to every week together regularly learning more as the apostles teach us what Jesus taught them. If you remember, Jesus taught them quite a bit, right? All throughout the ministry that they followed through with Jesus, that three years of ministry, and then after, correction. We're told he taught them even more. He taught them from the Old Testament and showed them all the truths and kind of put all the pieces of the puzzle together that the disciples were still trying to figure out in their minds. And now with the Holy Spirit working within them, they're in a wonderful place to be able to teach these truths that they've received from Christ and get an understanding that they've received through the Spirit. And people are eating this up and they want to know more. So learning more about Jesus was the primary desire of the early church. And folks, unfortunately, that's not always the case today. There are a lot of reasons why people come to church today and serve in church. And it's not always so that they can learn more about who Jesus is and learn more about God's word. It should be. And I'm thankful that we serve in a church where as far as I can tell, Remember one, there is a strong desire to want to learn more about God's word and put it into practice. And we're going to see not that they're just taking these things in, but folks, this early church is putting these things into practice as they're hearing these things. And we see throughout the rest of the listening, as they devoted themselves to learning more about Jesus through the apostles teaching, and also then the fellowship, which showed itself in the breaking of bread and praying together, The Greek word has the idea of sharing what is in common. The Greek word, many of you I'm sure are familiar with, koinonia, right? And that's used many times in relationship to the church. And it is a type of fellowship, and it really describes a familial relationship. This is now family. They recognize the Holy Spirit working among them. A lot of different backgrounds here, and we'll continue if you have Jews from all over the world that are 3,000 of them were saved in one message. You're gonna have people from a lot of different backgrounds together. And yet they're all fellowshipping, recognizing each other as the body of Christ, this new body of believers. And they're putting that care and that love into action and being willing to share together and serve together. for a common cause, that idea of breaking of bread, probably primarily refers to the Lord's table, as Jesus had told his disciples and expected them to remember him in this way. But it's general enough description that it's probably also talking about them sharing regular meals together. And it's interesting, we find, as we continue to read in the New Testament, and we read Paul's letters to the Corinthians, there soon became a regular tradition of the church eating together before they came together in communion or having a meal associated with that. Probably came back from these early days where they were having the Lord's supper together and remembering all that Christ had done for them, but they were also eating together, enjoying fellowship in each other's homes, enjoying meals together. And then also this idea of prayer, certainly, praying together as a spiritual community. This was an integral part of the early church meetings. They believed in the power of prayer. And early on, as the spirit is moving, they're dependent on prayer. And they're certainly seeking God's guidance and direction, because this is all new to them. And they still don't know for sure. They have no idea that they're going to face persecution pretty soon. They're going to be scattered throughout the whole world, literally. And they, as they begin, all these marvelous things are happening. They're filled with wonder. They're seeking the Lord's direction, surely, in prayers together. Lord, how do you want us, what do you want us to do? And how do you want us to serve? And how can we proclaim the message of Christ that we're learning much about? So much prayer is involved. I think that's so appropriate as we finished up a season of prayer and that emphasis on prayer that we're hoping continues. The Lord continues to impress upon me even more on a regular basis the need to pray more. And I hope he's doing that with you too. This has been a part of the church business and ministry since the beginning of the church. One of the very first things, so don't neglect it, the prayers and then this reaction and the effects of God's power and awe or reverent fear came upon every soul. As these body of believers are serving and being together, they're just in amazement. As they see God work and move, they sense His work. Do we sense God's work today as a church body? There are many ways that God is working. Do we respect, are we sobered by that? Are we moved to worship Him in reverence because we see Him working in our midst? Certainly that was the case. And also they did have some help here. Many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. is a fulfillment of what Jesus had said, the Old Testament had said. Jesus was now working through these apostles, these leaders, and doing the same types of miracles that Jesus had performed through them. And it is mind-blowing to these early church people and these individuals. And of course, they're filled with wonder and amazement. We serve an all-powerful God, and he's going to use us. Wow. What a view. serious about ministry here as they're doing these things. Well, Luke, the author of Acts, is gonna expand upon what one of those miracles was. He doesn't tell us all the wonders and signs. It doesn't take time to do that. There were many. They were noticed in the community. We'll see example of one in just a minute. But the power of God is working and his people are drawing closer together. Verse 44, and all who believed were together. And they had all things in common. As this reverent fear of God is prevalent among his followers, they're amazed at his work. They had a common faith. They believed the same things. The Holy Spirit was working in each of their hearts, emphasizing the truths of God's word. So they were together in heart and spirit. And again, that ought to be something. That's not just for the early church. That ought to be for us today as we hear God's truth. proclaimed and taught the Spirit ought to be drawing our hearts together. We're together in this. We're together in common theme and message that we want to proclaim. And they also, at the same time, they put what they were learning to practice and into action. Had all things in common just means that they shared to meet each other's needs, as we'll continue to see. We'll go back to that phrase, but look at verse 45. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need, living in community together. Now, unfortunately, as we hear these things, some of us, we may have a tendency, especially in our culture and American individualism, to get a little nervous. Is this some sort of promotion of socialism, Pastor Brock? Unfortunately, some, religious leaders use this to promote that, and maybe some even in some forms of communism look back to this. Even the Bible talks about this. But to think that is to miss what is going on here. This is not a polemic on the virtues of socialism. So don't get nervous about this. But it is a demonstration of the care and concern that the early members of this church of the believing community had for each other as they served and worship together, so much so that they were willing to let go of things that they owned in their own possessions to meet real needs. They were, first of all, that means they had to be aware of the needs. And often in our church families, we're not even sometimes aware of the needs of others. And people aren't always ready to talk about the needs that they have, but In the early church, they were well aware because they were with each other quite a bit. They were all they had. And so they knew when each other had needs, and they were ready to meet those needs, and they were ready to let go of their own self-interest for the good of others. That's certainly something that we can learn from today as well. And the Holy Spirit has to be there now. And we've seen, I can think of just words springing to mind even now, many examples of people in our church who have heard of the needs of others and have gone to meet those needs and taken up their time and the resources to do that. It's a wonderful picture here of what was going on at Early Church. They were putting this teaching and faith into practice and taking care of each other. Let me just read you a couple of things I found helpful here. from a couple of commentators, one man said, though some people have referred to the situation as early communism, this is clearly not the case. Since number one, the giving was voluntary and not compelled by the government, that's key, right? And number two, people still had personal possessions. They still owned things because they met in their homes. So these people didn't all share in a communal living situation. strange situation, but they were meeting in their own personal homes, and many other Christians after this still owned homes. Furthermore, we see later on in Acts, Peter told Ananias and Sapphira that they did not have any obligation to sell their property and give the money. It was not under obligation that the people did this. It was of the lords and the spirits leading in their lives, of their own generosity. No forcing in this. In contrast to communist theory, the abolition of private property is not commanded or implied here. But on the other hand, there is a voluntary generosity, sharing possessions that is seen as commendable. Something else here, too, from another commenter on the other side of this that I thought was very helpful. He compares our American culture to what's going on here from a scholar whose last name is Bach. Everything about the Gospels and Acts tells us that God's people are to take initiative to show community and to serve those around them. Much in Western culture drives us to an individualism that undercuts this development of community. We are taught to have things our own way, even our burgers at restaurants, right? And that we being able to have our own individual needs catered to is how to measure the success of an organization In our culture, our individual needs and rights come before any needs of the group. The biblical picture is not of what someone receives from the church. This is key, don't miss this. Although one does receive a great deal, but of what one gives and how one contributes to it. Those are the healthy things that we ought to be taking away from this picture of the early church. And remember the needs here, okay? The needs that these people met were much more severe in many ways than we as Americans meet many times today. Remember, in New Testament times, these people were sometimes in abject poverty. They literally didn't know where their next meal was gonna come from. They literally sometimes didn't know where their next healthy drinking water was going to come from and where they were gonna, and so many of them needed clothes, severe needs for food and water and clothing, and also medical attention, as we're going to see in the next passage here in chapter three. There were some severe needs that there were others who were wealthy. There was a lot of separation from those that had a lot to those that were in abject need and poverty. But in the church coming together, they meet each other's needs and they help each other in this way. And so a proper picture of this really is a beautiful testimony to the love and care that's being shown in the early church. The early church lived in community together, but they also worshiped together. Look at verse 46. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. They were not merely helping each other together during the week, but more importantly, they were worshiping God together as a corporate group, all going to the temple. Now, remember, as the church began, they weren't meeting in their little, they didn't automatically construct beautiful buildings with, you know, steeples and things like this and usher in and get their handles out and things like this. No. What did they know? Well, what they knew to do was you still worship God at the temple. And this was in Jerusalem. They would have a time where they would go to the temple. They would worship together as a group. And this seems to transition from the meeting together, would eventually worship in homes. And as the church expanded beyond the borders of Jerusalem, they didn't have access to the temple. It seems after a while, they've expanded worshiping on the Lord's day, on Sunday, in homes, Sunday being the day that Jesus rose from the dead. But at the moment, they're meeting together and worshiping in the temple. And then they would continue that worship together in their homes, eating together. And it says here, praising God, worshiping him together. And this didn't go unnoticed by the people as a whole. The people in Jerusalem at this point, there's not a lot of negative reaction. There's a lot of positive. And it says here, having favor with all of the people, that is all the people surrounding them. even those who haven't trusted Christ yet. In other words, their loving testimony of what's going on in this community of believers spread around the region, and they were favored by the general population. Persecution of the church hasn't begun yet, and people are looking at these individuals saying, wow, this is amazing. This group of people that the Spirit is working, God is working through, look how loving and kind they are to each other. And God was using their testimony to As he says at the end of verse 47, the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved. The Lord is in sovereign control. The Lord is doing this work. Luke makes that clear. He is the one who's expanding the numbers of those being saved. Again, two sides of the coin, because Peter called people to repentance and faith, right? It was their responsibility. And yet Luke makes it clear that the Lord is the one who expands the numbers. Two sides of that. Both are true, and we just minister and we give that over to the Lord. Well, number two, part of our major thing here, the church leaders are also empowered to help others. And notice how the leadership, the apostles, and probably many others as well, they took notice as they worshiped God and were doing the things together they were supposed to be doing. They also were aware of needs around them. And that's something, again, can learn from today as we see Peter and John here. We get so busy in our own lives, and even as far as ministry in the church, we forget to notice needs around us. Not the case with Peter and John. And the apostles noticed others, even as they go to worship God, chapter three, verse one. Now, Peter and John, two of the apostles, Peter's leadership highlighted here, but now John as well. And remember, John is the author of the Gospel of John that we just recently finished our study in. They were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. This would have been around three o'clock, and this would have been the second Jewish prayer time of the day. It seems that there were offerings given at this time as well. It was very important. Two times every day that official prayers were done at the temple. This is the second of those. And as they're going to worship and do their part in prayer, They have an opportunity before them. Verse two, and a man lame from birth was being carried, a man who never walked before. He's lame from birth. He's never had the opportunity. He's always had people helping him, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. A man physically impaired since birth has to be constantly his whole life dependent upon other people. And remember, folks, if you had a physical disability like this, especially at this time, you were totally dependent. You could do nothing to help yourself. This man is totally helpless. And his whole life has been at this gate, begging for people to help him, begging for financial help. This is the beautiful gate. This is the only time that this gate is described in this way from what we can tell. It's probably, there was another name for this gate. It was built as a, what was called a Corinthian gate. It was embellished with gold. And it was just a beautiful, if you read the details of it, embellished with all kinds of beauty. And so that's probably why Luke called this the beautiful gate. Very obvious gate as a gateway into the court of the Gentiles and also the area where the women could worship as well. Very prominent location here. in the temple complex. And that's important because this man has to beg for money. He has to be seen. And seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. That's financial help, right? Or some other kind of sustenance. Maybe they would give food. Maybe they would give some sort of clothing, some sort of help. And he's asking for help. Most of the time, it was financial. And so as Peter and John approached, of course, he did what he always did. He asked for money. Well, they didn't ignore him. They focused their attention on this man's plight. They give him his direct attention, but they also call him, you look at us as well. You pay attention to us because we have something very important that we're about to tell you. Verse four, Peter directed his gaze at him as did John. And he said, look at us. And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them, a generous donation. If these folks are that intent upon noticing me, They have something they're going to give me. And I'm sure that as Peter said these words, maybe a little bit of initial disappointment came upon him. But Peter has a better idea. He has a much more than a temporary financial fix in mind. For those of us that know this passage well, we know they noticed others in need, but they also help others through dependence on God. And Peter, through the power of Jesus Christ, will give this man more help than he ever imagined. And Peter said, verse 6, I have no silver or gold. Maybe the man thought, well, why are you even talking to me then? But what I do have, I give to you something much more substantial. No temporary financial support, but they have something infinitely better. That's the power of Christ to work in this man's life. They'll introduce him to the power of Jesus Christ to renew his whole life. and most immediately his physical life. And he says, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, again pointing out Jesus was a real figure. He grew up in Nazareth, but Jesus has the power to heal and also he is fully God. He has the power of God to heal. And then this little phrase here, Peter makes it clear that Jesus was a real historical figure, but he has the power of God and he's working through these men now. He says in his name, rise up. and walk. And he took him by the right hand. And as a man, I'm sure as Peter said that he held out his hand and Peter grabbed his hand and he pulled him up and he took him by the right hand and raised him up. And immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Peter commands this man to do something he's never done before. Walk, get up and walk. And he had to have faith to reach out. And Peter pulled him up, and as he pulled him up, that strength returned to his legs. How do we know it was a full healing? Well, look at the response here. And leaping up, remember that fulfillment, remember that verse in Isaiah? He stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, and not just walking with them, walking and leaping and praising God. This is a full miracle, folks, because even if we were able, Let's take someone today that has trouble, and maybe from birth, they have trouble walking and they have to have multiple operations. What has to happen almost every time? Well, every time. There has to be months, weeks, months of physical therapy, right? To help these folks get used to being able to walk and do things with their limbs that they were never able to do before, to literally help the brain understand there's capability here that wasn't here before. There's a little bit less of that with different, with what's artificial limbs and things that are replaced, but there still is, my understanding, a time where you have to get used to those. But this healing is automatic. This man immediately, everything with his brain down to his legs is working full force, and he's able to jump up and leap, and everybody around there knows something powerful has happened here. This isn't normal, and this man knows. that he's been made whole. And of course, he's talking with them. He's already worshiping with them. He's praising God. He's leaping up in the air. Oh, the joy that this man had as he's praising God. This wasn't like the lepers who were healed and walked away. This man is thankful. He is grateful and joyful for what God has done in his life, and everybody knew it. Verse nine, all the people saw him walking and praising God. Remember, these folks had gone through this very prominent entry into the temple for years. They'd seen this man grow up from a child not being able to walk, and all of a sudden he's jumping around and leaping and praising God. This was amazing to them. Something powerful has happened. And they recognized him. Can you imagine the crowd? Isn't that the guy? That's the guy. That's the guy who was always sitting there at the temple. He was always from a little boy. It can't be him. Oh, it is. Look, look. He's jumping around and praising God. He's the one always asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder. Again, the effects of God's power working through the people in the early church with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. His joy and exuberance made a stirring impression on the people around him. And all are amazed at the power of God working in their midst. Well, is there application today? Folks, if you have some physical ailment on this legenda right now and you want to come up afterwards and you're expecting that I'd be able to do something like this in one of our church leadership, we're not going to be able to perform it in this way, in this miraculous way. But there are things that we can still do today, like prayer. And James talks about this. As far as physical difficulties and things, we can pray, we can ask God for help. But this was at the beginning of the church where Jesus is making it clear that his power is working through them and making a noticeable proclamation that Jesus is at work here. So no, I can't promise you that in this miraculous way that this could happen. I can do this. I certainly can't, right? But can't God's power still work miraculously in an amazing ways as we go to Him in prayer? Haven't we, in the last few years, been amazed at how He's worked? And seeing Him work as we pray for things and seeing the answer to these things, being joyfully thankful for the responses that He's given us, God's still working. And as we're praying expectantly, God will do miraculous things in his own way, right? In his timing. And when those things happen, are we going to respond in praise and joy like this man did? Is it okay to jump up and get excited when you see God working in your midst? It sure is. That's fine. We need a little bit more of that when he moves in our midst. And as miraculous and as amazing as these things are, folks, don't forget the same power is still available to us today to work and to do things, not these types of miraculous miracles in the same way, but through prayer, asking God to help. He can do these things and he can help. And he can provide for us and give us a bold testimony, as the early church did, give us a bold testimony for our community today as well. Sometimes we expect far too little from God. And he has, his power is the same that he gives today that he gave back then to do a work in our hearts and to help us to proclaim him. People ought to see the joy and the thankfulness and the love and the care in this church and in churches around our country and know that something truly miraculous and unique is going be a part of that. And as we have folks that are in physical difficulties, yes, we pray, we gather around them even. We pray for them on Wednesday nights. We know many that we're praying for that are on our list. Lord, heal them. Lord, help them. God does powerful things. Let's not expect too little of God today. Let's know that the same God that we serve today is the one that the early church served and the effects of this power can still be known through us today as we faithfully and lovingly serve him. Lord, what a beautiful picture this is. Help us to understand that your power still works within us today. Lord, it'd be wonderful if I could just reach down and touch somebody and heal them like you enabled the apostles to do in this unique incredible manner, but we know that you had a reason for that and a timing in your plan for that, but that today you also heal and work miraculously through the prayers of us all, the prayers of the many, and through the medical procedures and doctors and institutions that you have given us today that they didn't have back in the New Testament. Through all of these things, you still do your amazing work of healing, and even more importantly, of spiritual growth in the lives of your church, that we may proclaim you and be better testimonies. And so, Father, help us to do that. Help us to be submitted to the Spirit's power that we would be a shining example of love and care and concern, and that we would draw the community in wonder and amazement and that they would want to know Jesus, who empowers us and gives us the ability to grow spiritually, to grow in love and in concern for each other, and that we would see people come to Christ as you add them. We know it's your work, Father, and we're privileged that you give us a part in that. Help us to be faithful in these things, and help us to be encouraged as we go forth this week to be faithful, to proclaim Jesus. For it's in his name that we pray, amen.